The Public Eduaction Primer was very informative and the graphs helped me appreciate the numbers. The article focused on several topics. 1) Where are the students? 2) Who are the students? 3) Who controls the public education? 4) How are the public schools funded? 5) How welll are students achieving? 6) What is the public schoool teachin force like? 7) What other services do public schools offer? All of these questions are focal points that need to be addressed for the future of education.
The first topic that is covered is “Where are the students”? Surprisingly, the facts showed me that the north east had a lower population of students then the south and west portions of the United States. The graph showed about 60% of all students reside in the south or west regions of the United States. I sat for a long time trying to figure these numbers out and could not come up with an answer. As I continued to read, the text stated that in 2003, 38% of students where foreign born and 25% of those were Mexican. This made it all clear to me why numbers would be so large in the south and west.
Another interesting field that the primer focused on was how certain cultures are clumped together in urban areas. One fact that really stood out was that 1/3 African Americans and Latinos attend a school where ¾ of the student population are of low income families. In addition to this, It also stated that only 5% of whites attend a school where ¾ of the student population are from low income families. Because of these dense populations of low income families, many different problems arise. One problem announced in the primer was the turnover rate of teachers in these areas. It states that 33% of teachers leave within the first 3 years of service and 46% leave within the first five years.
This domino effect of facts leads me off into another tangent. The primer states that 9/10 teachers are white and 8/10 teachers are female. This is a problem in its own because the teaching force should somewhat resemble the student body. Maybe this is one of the many reasons young black men have a higher dropout percentage than any other group. The ability to relate to a teacher is one of many qualities that should be exhibited by a student.
So what’s new! The truth is that these problems are just the tip of the iceberg. Yes, these numbers are great to look at but what do they really mean. What can I as a future teacher do to correct these wrongs in our educational system. Truthfully, I feel that no one person can change the system enough to really make a change. These low-income communities need to unite and stand up for what they deserve.
I do feel as though the problem lies within the administrative departments who focus on minuscule topics.
1 comment:
Thanks for your comments. Regarding the large number of teachers who leave the profession within the first three to five years, I don't believe the article said that this turnover rate represented low-income schools. I think it was an overall statistic and I also wondered why? Is teaching not what they expected it to be? Is it because of the salary or is it related to the fact that many of these white, female teachers get married and leave to raise families? I don't know. It would be interesting, however to see separate statistics that show what percentage of teachers are leaving so called "good" schools and "bad" schools in the first five years. Just a thought ....
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